I think a lot of these games failed more because of non-existent marketing and maybe being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Possibly also the fact that playing small portions of them in isolation doesn't convey the awesomeness that is either. Never played the demo of Psychonauts but I remember being pretty underwhelmed by the BG&E demo, same for Little Big Adventure incidentally. Just thought: Eh, could be an alright game... Upon playing the game proper both turned out to be beyond excellent.
Maybe games in general need to work more on being fun to play at the most basic level. A lot of titles you have to suffer through iffy mechanics and other obstacles to get to the entertainment. That's not good enough. Really good games don't just have the depth that keeps you playing, they have the core gameplay that gets you playing and they have the sense to convey it immediately.
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